Will the Wii Fit get doctor's approval?
(Credit: Nintendo)The next iteration of the Wii Fit may be getting professional medical credentials.
Nintendo is roping in Panasonic Medical Solutions, Hitachi, and NEC, to develop accessories to enhance the popular fitness game. One of the features would uploading personal data to medical professionals for health assessment and advice. Some of the data collected through the games that could be passed along include height, age, agility as recorded from the balancing games, weight, and body mass index.
The new Wii Fit is expected to launch in Japan around April. There's no word on availability or pricing.
(Via Crave Asia)
(Credit:
Boing Boing)
The more things change, the more they stay the same. That, at least, can be said of Atari.
The company will be releasing a game that appears to compete with Nintendo's much-anticipated Wii Fit and its Balance Board, but it turns out that Atari had a board controller of its own back in 1982--we're talking the same year that Tron came out. According to Boing Boing, the "Joyboard" was a four-switch device that worked like a foot-controlled joystick but was eventually abandoned as "too finicky for nuanced control."
It seems doubtful that any of its original developers remain with the company, but Atari apparently still remembers that experience 26 years later and has gone with an interactive floor mat with its new Family Trainer title. It's natural to wonder whether Atari's fortunes might have been different if it had kept going down this path of development. But our guess is that it probably was just a case of being too far ahead of its time.
(Credit:
Atari)
The Wii Fit isn't even out yet, and already competition is gearing up. Atari just announced that it will launch its own exercise game, called Family Trainer.
The main difference in Atari's version--other than the lack of hype and branding power of its Nintendo rival--is that it uses an interactive mat rather than the Wii Fit's Balance Board. The move is somewhat awkward because the game apparently still requires use of the Wiimote, as Tech Digest notes, and Atari's Family Ski is designed to use the Wii board as well. The games, meanwhile, sound only mildly interesting from their description: "Over a dozen frantic single and multiplayer challenges to choose from all based on outdoor challenges amusingly interpreted for the world of Family Trainer, such as river rafting, mine carting, log jumping, rope skipping, and much more."
Maybe it's just an attempt by Atari to capitalize on the Wii Fit's publicity and get some action on its flagging stock price. In any case, Family Trainer isn't scheduled for release until September, so at least it can't be given as an offensive Mother's Day gift--then again, there's always the holidays.
(Credit:
Sega Toys)
The Wii Fit may have grabbed all the headlines for combining games and exercise, but it should be noted in fairness that other companies have been working on that mashup as well. Lately their efforts have focused on physical activities for kids, whether on stationary bikes or jet skis, but maybe that's just the beginning.
The latest evidence of the trend comes from Sega Toys, though it hardly looks like something aimed at your average adolescent. The "Body Trainer" sounds a lot like Yamaha's "BodiBeat," which chooses songs that supposedly match your heart rate, though we do like the fact that Sega's versions contains all the electronics in its headset. (We could never figure out how people keep their earbuds from falling out during a workout.)
Just enter your vitals and choose a level of exercise, according to Dvice, and the Body Trainer will "adjust the pace of the music to optimize your routine." No matter how it works, we hope game companies will continue down the fitness path. After all, they certainly couldn't do any worse than the hula chair.
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